CM9b: Lochner & Craemer: "Missourians until death" (not Loehe's men)

   This continues from Part CM9a (Table of Contents in Part CM1) in a series defending Walther against a false portrayal by LC-MS President Matthew Harrison on the doctrines of Church and Ministry. — Although I was going to leave the testimony of Pastor Lochner and Prof. F. A. Craemer at what I presented in Part CM9a, I have since discovered a striking testimony of how close these two men were while Craemer was living. We saw that both prominent men of the Old Missouri Synod were not only Loehe's protégés, but also later testified against his errors on Church and Ministry. The two were somewhat separated from each other in their careers after their departure from Germany, but they once again were joined in the same city in 1876, in Springfield, Illinois, where Craemer was professor and head of the Practical Seminary and Lochner had accepted a call to a congregation in Springfield, and to be an instructor at the same seminary.  Pastor Lochner describes the heartfelt letter that Craemer wrote to him when he found out about Lochner's coming to Springfield, in Der Lutheraner vol. 48 (1892), p. 49 [EN]:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

In my [Lochner’s] call to the congregation, Crämer recognized God's wonderful and kind providence with a joyful and grateful movement of his heart. On December 15, 1875, he wrote: 

“God bless you for making the sacrifice out of love for the church and accepting the call here [in Springfield]. Your letter has made bright tears run down my old, hard knot.”... “Just as we once set out from Germany as 'Franconian Mecklenburgers' to serve the church here [in America], so the faithful and wonderful God is bringing us together again at the end of our careers as 

‘Missourians until death’. 

Yes, that is a lovely, heart-warming thought.”

He wrote just as happily on January 12, 1876: 

“Yesterday evening my dear colleague [Henry] Wyneken and his family arrived here, and thank God they are all safe and well. And in about a month, just around the time when we [Lochner & Crämer] started our journey together in Germany 31 years ago, you will also come. My heart is full of praise and thanks to God, because now I have hope that I will revive in Springfield, where I have been crushed and brought to the ground, because now there is a prospect that the community here will flourish and the institution can take root.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

      While Pres. Harrison chastises "every well-meaning Missourian" for believing the doctrines of Church and Ministry that Lochner and Craemer followed, they are quite content to be… ‘Missourians until death’ on these doctrines, as was Walther. They were definitely not Loehe's men anymore. Yes indeed, dear Prof. Craemer, that is “a lovely, heart-warming thought”! — In the concluding Part CM10 we dig into an extensive essay by a noted LC–MS theologian, Prof. Ken Schurb.